Familiar Phrases and their Nautical Origins!!! 20 postcards of 2 different dimensions, 10 posters A2, AND a wooden box!!! The packaging has a screen printed logo, for the project and each print, shows a phrase, what it means today from several people, and the origin on the back, in a postcard format. The posters, are just plain on the back but the print from each postcard is the main attraction.

So yesterday I handed in my ISTD submission, all went okay I suppose bar a few mishaps BUT I am proud of what I have achieved and pictures to come this weekend!!!! (That’s a promise).

Today, has been a chill out and do Promotion and Employability day, where I updated my sketchbook with a lecture, and annotated Monday’s business card designs. Now I have made new ones, following advise from one of my lecturers.

I’ve used the same card stock as before, but off white and cream paper stocks on either side. (This time I decided to use Spray mount, so much easier and less sticky on the edges too! My house mate / course mate can eat his words!!! muahahhahah!).

Well here are the photos of the new and improved business cards for my unit.

You may notice that these look really different, that’s because I scrapped the full block colour designs and left it simple with the double J speaking. The colours are very muted though, so I might need to test other paper stocks if I have time, but next I can choose my preferred card out of these (Maybe one of each) and then start doing everything else I need to do!!!

So while waiting for my turn to use the Large Format printer, I printed off and put together some business card designs. (They are very messy and sticky due to double sided sticky tape, but this will improve for submission and also bad photography here).

I went onto Moo.com, to see their colour values and their triplex cards, which look and feel amazing! I was assured by the sturdiness, in the sample pack. I want to eventually use an off white stock and a blue middle, to match my ident (seen on the front).

I have used Baskerville Semi Bold and a range of pantones (for the purple) colours, after testing them with a range of blue pantones. I’ve also tested Gill Sans, Helvetica and Futura in contrast to Baskerville.

Unsure on the layouts and which one to go for just yet, but I think I prefer the single offset J, but I will decide soon!

I found a tutorial online, which shows you how to design and paint your own rustic wooden signs. So, I bought some plywood to test this out by using Acrylic paints and Carbon Paper to transfer the lettering onto the material.

Both of these were featured prototypes on Thursday (Both also failed to communicate my topic which is The Obscure Nautical Phrases / Sayings in our language as everyone who looked at this, thought it was about sign writing or sign painting.)

Oh well…. more ideas to come soon!

Other uni projects are also going well, I’ve had a set back on my Promotion unit where a lecturer called my last logo designs ‘Dumpy’ so I’ve been working hard to make them less so. Digital versions to be made this weekend. ISTD (International Society of Typographic Deisgners) is also pressing forward, I now need to add content to my book about Adrian Frutiger and continue adding the ‘Wow’ factor to my format (which is a circle!)

Messy Fun Time seems to be a reoccurring thing on a Friday…… (maybe it’s because I have no lectures on this day!)

I am still experimenting with mediums with my promotion and employability unit, this time my adventures took me to the Screen Printing room, to experiment with my logo. The effects were awesome, and I cannot wait to scan these in to enhance the colours!

Working on my brush control as an experiment, for this style of letter. I am continuing this feel of experimentation and using mixed media to produce my ident for my promo unit. I feel this is going well, my hand is becoming steadier. I still require more practice however, and possibly to try out other colours to experiment with.

My aim with this is to get the best curves possible (I might need to go bigger for this) but the small size is good to practice with. I don’t want to overwork this, but I do want to get it as close to being right for me, as possible.